Willow Hour
by grpruett
Summary: Willow was born on the day that Richard Wilkins was making one of his tributes. After believing that she was in labor, Sheila Rosenberg, Willow’s mother, accidentally and unknowingly got caught in the middle of that tribute while she was at the hospital
1. Chapter 1

**'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' is owned by Joss Whedon and I don't have any rights to it. **

**A/N1 I don't believe that Willow's date of birth, Xander's date of birth and Amy Madison's date of birth were ever established. In 'Restless' Buffy did tell Xander, "I'm way ahead of you, big brother.' So from that I'm going to say that Xander is older than Buffy. As for Willow or Amy, I don't believe it was ever established if Willow or Amy was older than Buffy or Buffy was older than either of those two. So for the purpose of this story, Xander's date of birth will be July 30, 1980; Willow's date of birth will be August 15, 1980 and Amy's date of birth will be on October 10, 1980 (Which in my story puts Xander, Willow and Amy three to five months older than Buffy)**

**A/N2 The only medical knowledge that I know is from the evening sitcoms like 'Grey's Anatomy', 'House' and a few others, so forgive me if I sound as though I don't know what I'm medically talking about… because I might not be. **

* * *

On August 13, 1979, in Los Angeles, Richard Wilkins was having a meeting with Phillip Warwick, the current CEO of Wolfram & Hart, in Phillip's office.

After Richard told Phillip what he wanted, Phillip sighed before saying, "You should've come to me before now, Richard. Finding a hundred young women to become surrogate mothers to a hundred Setula babies won't be easy."

"Can you do it though?" Richard hopefully asked. "Can you help me to find a hundred volunteers?"

"Well, I seriously doubt that I can get a hundred women to volunteer to get pregnant by Setula demons around this time next year," Phillip began. "But if the women believe that they are part of a fertility trial in order to get pregnant, I think I can find you your hundred women."

"These women have to be fertile otherwise my tribute will be worthless," Richard said.

"These women who join the fertility trial just have to believe that they can't get pregnant without help," Phillip said.

"These women will have to go to the Letutus Hell dimension too," Richard pointed out.

"I know a few wizards who can shift this good city of Los Angeles and its bordering counties into a different dimension," Phillip began. "Shifting the Sunnydale hospital to a different dimension would be a walk-in-the-park and as long as these women aren't next to any windows, they wouldn't have a clue of their dimensional shift."

"With all the demonic activity in Sunnydale, Sunnydale hospital remains busy," Richard pointed out.

"I'm sure you have enough clout over the demonic community to persuade the demons of that region to take a day off on that day," Phillip said. "As for the patients who are there, have them ushered into a quarantine area away from windows on the pretense that there's an outbreak of small pox or something equally as dangerous. You can block the in coming patents with the same excuse."

"That could work, but since Setula women can no longer get pregnant, any pregnant woman inside the hospital during the time we're in the Letutus Hell dimension would be a slap in the face to the Setula demons," Richard began. "So how would I keep the pregnant women away from the hospital on that day?"

Phillip thought for a moment before uttering, "Midwives."

"Midwives?" Richard questioned.

"Invent some reason to where all the pregnant women in Sunnydale would have to use midwives during that time," Phillip suggested. "In fact, for an incentive for them to use midwives, you can give them financial breaks during their medical checkups."

"Okay, but to control the outcome better, we'll need to re-staff the hospital with handpicked doctors and nurses," Richards said.

"I know exactly who you need to get as the head doctor," Phillip said before he retrieved his daily news paper from the waste basket. "His name is Dr. Edward Coolidge. As for his staff, he could pick his own members." Phillip held out the paper for Richard to take. "The story is on the second page of the news section."

Richard took the paper and flipped to the story. After reading the first two paragraphs he said, "I caught a small section of the news last night about this guy. I didn't catch his name though. He begins his trial this coming Monday for his unethical and unsanctioned experiments on people."

"What better doctor to lead your mission?" Phillip questioned.

"Yeah, well, according to the news last night, the authorities have enough evidence on this guy to keep him locked up for two hundred years," Richard pointed out.

"Did you forget that you're speaking with the CEO of Wolfram & Hart?" Phillip said. Richard gave him a curious look. "By this time tomorrow, there won't be enough evidence to prove that he was even born; let alone have enough evidence against him to lock him up. All I need is the go-a-head from you."

Richard thought for moment before asking, "Do you think that Dr. Coolidge will agree to help?"

"He'll either help or he'll remain in prison," Phillip said. "So I'm certain that he'll accept the position without hesitation."

"Okay, you officially have my go-a-head," Richard said. "Now, as far as the women to be selected, they should be between the ages of twenty and thirty; they should be healthy and if all possible more capable at getting pregnant than the average woman."

"My seers will find these women," Phillip began. "We'll slip them birth control without their knowledge to make them believe that they can't get pregnant without medical help and we'll make sure that they get the knowledge of the fertility trial. With any luck, you'll have plenty of candidates to choose from."

"Excellent," Richard said before letting out a delightful laugh. "Gosh darn, I feel like a kid in a toy store."

"Yes, well, Richard, next time come to me sooner when you need help with something of this magnitude," Phillip said.

"You have more important things to deal with around here," Richard said while gesturing around him.

"You took me in, Richard, when I was nine," Phillip began. "You're family… an uncle who doesn't age." Richard grinned. "You made me into the leader that I am today and so what's important to you is important to me. Therefore, if you need help with the tribute after this one, let me know now so we can work on it now instead of later."

"The next tribute after this one is just a simple ritual feeding," Richard said. "There won't be any need for your help."

"Okay," Phillip said. "Now on a different note, when are you planning to become Mayor of Sunnydale again?"

"In ten years or so I'll move back into the Sunnydale's city limits as Richard Wilkins the third; the son of the late Mayor Wilkins, Richard Wilkins the second," Richard began. "And after I make my presence known, I'll run for mayor in the following election."

"I'll do what I can to help seal that election for you," Phillip said.

"I appreciate it," Richard said.

Phillip looked at his watch before asking, "So what about lunch?"

"I thought you never ask," Richard said before the two stood.

Two hours later, Phillip's star lawyer Holland Manners and Richard Wilkins visited Edward Coolidge. Once the three were seated in the lawyer/client room, Holland offered Dr. Coolidge Wolfram & Hart's pro bono services on the condition that he would join Richard Wilkins' staff. Dr. Coolidge was skeptical to what he was hearing, but when he saw proof, he agreed to lead Richard Wilkins's project.

The following day, Dr. Coolidge's record was mystically wiped clean from any wrong doing and was released from prison with an apology.

During the passing days, Richard and Phillip put their plan into motion. Wolfram & Hart's seers identified the most likely female candidates and from a mystical spell by Wolfram & Hart's wizards those women were rendered incapable at getting pregnant until after a certain date.

Within a month, Dr. Coolidge was hired as the top doctor in the maternity ward for the Sunnydale hospital. To help minimize the transition into the Letutus Hell dimension when the time would come, the security staff members were replaced by vampires

On June 16, 1980 Dr. Coolidge had set in motion for the women who are scheduled to give birth between August 1 and September 1 to use midwives. The reason given was that the maternity ward had failed inspections and was undergoing major renovations. Any pregnant woman who didn't want to participate in the midwife program was to go to Los Angeles.

Sheila Rosenberg due date was on August 17 and her assigned midwife was Nurse Theresa Kendall. Theresa was new to Sunnydale and didn't know the town's after-dark reputation.

After sunset, on August 14, Theresa had left the Rosenberg's home from after checking up on Sheila, and before driving directly to her home, she stopped off at a grocery store.

Luke and Darla were out hunting food for the Master and came upon Theresa in the grocery store's parking lot as Theresa was walking back to her car.

Darla approached Theresa while in her human face and led Theresa to the back of the store on the pretense that Darla had found a litter of abandoned kittens that she didn't know what to do with.

Once Darla and Theresa were at the dark side of the store, Luke stepped out.

Before Theresa was able to scream, Darla, now in her demon face, had her hand covering Theresa's mouth while saying, "Shshsh. You will come with me and behave. No screaming out."

Theresa looked at Darla with fear in her eyes and nodded. Once Darla took her hand off of Theresa's mouth, Theresa begged, "Please don't hurt me."

Darla glanced at Luke with a satisfying smile before saying, "True, I will hurt you if you try to escape or scream out, but I'm not the one that will… well, I better not spoil the surprise. Master doesn't like it when I tell the ending to the story."

"Please let me go?" Theresa begged with tears running down her face as she stared at Luke.

"Oh, I'm not the Master," Luke said before gesturing into the direction of a sewer opening. "The Master is this way. So come."

When Theresa was scared to move, Darla dragged her along by the collar of her shirt. Darla dragged her for a short distance before reaching the sewer opening. When Theresa refused to go into the sewer, Darla forced her in.

1:45 P.M., Friday, August 15, Sheila Rosenberg began experiencing what she thought was labor pains every seven minute, and after feeling the contractions for more than thirty minutes she paged Theresa. Her husband Ira was out of town on a business trip and after Sheila had paged Theresa, she called Ira's hotel and left a message. .

Sheila stood patiently near the phone, but it never rang. Once she felt the fourth contraction within twenty minutes, she picked up the phone and dialed it, but in her frenzy she dialed the wrong number.

When a woman answered the phone, Sheila slightly groaned before questioning, "Who's this?"

"Are you okay, Ma'am?" the woman asked.

"I'm pregnant and I can't reach my midwife," Sheila rattled off.

"Midwife?" the woman questioned. "You're in Sunnydale?"

"I am," Sheila said before groaning again. "Look, I… I obviously dialed the wrong number…"

"It's fine," the woman assured her. "I'm in Sunnydale too; in fact I just gave birth to my son sixteen days ago. My name's Jessica and if you give me the address to your house, my son Alexander and I will be right over."

"Thanks, Jessica, for the offer, but as soon as I hang up from you I'm calling for an ambulance," Sheila said.

"Tell me your name and number and I'll check up on you in a couple of days," Jessica said.

Sheila slightly hesitated before telling Jessica her name and phone number. Once Sheila hung up, she called for an ambulance.

Within a short time, Jessica noticed an ambulance going passed her house. She quickly picked up Alexander and stepped outside before the ambulance was able disappear around the corner a couple of blocks up.

Several people were at the corner where the ambulance's driver had made his turn and when Jessica noticed those people acting as if they were being spectators to a horrible event, Jessica carried Alexander to the corner as well. Jessica got to the corner in time to see Sheila being escorted from her house by the paramedics.

Minutes later, once Sheila got to the hospital, the staff put her in an examination room in the emergency area. The first year resident Dr. Sarah McBride and Nurse Maxine Kurtz were immediately paged from the maternity ward and assigned to her.

Sarah was Catherine Madison's estrange sister. She was twenty-eight years old and was the older sister by five years.

Like Catherine, Sarah was also a powerful witch and learning anything had always come easy for Sarah, especially magic and that was what had caused the bitterness that Catherine had for Sarah. And what will later add insult to injury in Catherine's mind was the fact that her unborn daughter, soon to be known as Amy, will grow to look more like Sarah than herself.

When Sarah graduated high school at seventeen, she didn't entered college right away. She practiced magic more than what she should and within six month after graduating high school she accidently killed one her good friends with her magic, an act that she will never forgive herself for. This led her into admitting that she had a problem with the magic and she sought help in Mexico City from a powerful witch to regain control of it.

The witch she sought out was also a seer. It took Sarah three years to find the witch/seer and once she did the witch/seer told Sarah that her destiny lies as a doctor in Sunnydale California.

Sarah and Catherine were originally from Los Angeles and their parents moved them to Sunnydale when Sarah was eleven. This was never mentioned to the witch/seer, but somehow the witch/seer knew this already. Also becoming a doctor had been Sarah's dream since she was a small child and she was on the road of letting that dream die, but once the witch/seer told her, her destiny, her dream of becoming a doctor was rejuvenated with even stronger passion.

On the advice of the witch/seer, Sarah immediately moved back to California and entered college. Also on the advice of the witch/seer, she kept her mind off of witchcraft by studying hard on her assignments and she breezed through each course with high marks until she was an intern as the witch/seer had also predicted.

Sarah's interest had always been in pediatrics or to be an OBGYN. She wanted to work in the field where life began or was in its early stages and after accidentally killing her friend with her magic her medical interest at becoming an OBGYN was reinforced.

Sarah's medical classes and internship were done in San Francisco, and when she passed her internship she applied for one of the doctor positions in Sunnydale that were available.

Richard Wilkins and Dr. Coolidge were the ones who interviewed Sarah for the doctor's position and her total lack of fear towards meeting her first vampire during her interview was the deciding factor for her getting the position.

Present day, after Sarah and Nurse Kurtz got to the examination room where Sheila was in, they immediately began a routine examination and during the examination, Sheila's contractions ended.

"I was sure I was in labor," Sheila told Sarah and Nurse Kurtz. "It must be obvious to you, Dr. McBride, that this is my first child and the first time experiencing false labor."

Sarah grinned before saying, "You're fine, Mrs. Rosenberg. Most mothers get deceived by those dreaded false labor pains whether it be their first pregnancy or… or tenth."

"Being this close to the due date, it could very well have been the real deal," Nurse Kurtz added. "So you were right to come here."

"I wish it had been the real deal," Sheila said. "I'm very ready to be not pregnant right now."

Nurse Kurtz smiled before saying, "Taking long walks and walking up and down steps is always a good way to speed up the real deal."

"I heard that before," Sheila said. "Of course that never entered my mind… until you mentioned it."

"Okay, Mrs. Rosenberg, I'm releasing you," Sarah said. "The nurse at the front desk can help you find another midwife and call you a cab to get home."

"Okay; thanks, Doctor," Sheila said as she went to stand up.

Sheila followed Sarah to the nurse's desk and once Sarah gave instruction to the nurse, she went back to her previous duties in the maternity ward.

The nurse gave Sheila a list of midwives and then called her a cab. Sheila waited for the cab near the front entrance, but before the cab had a chance to come Sheila decided to take Nurse Kurtz's advice and exercise by walking the stairs. She left the entrance just before the cab showed up and entered the hospital's stairwell.

At 3:35 P.M., Dr. Coolidge declared a quarantined lockdown of the Sunnydale hospital. Patients, visitors and the staff members who weren't involved were ushered into quarantine areas.

The clinic nearest to the maternity ward was taken over by four doctors and eight nurses assigned to extracted the semen from the Setula demons. Each of the clinic rooms was divided off into fours in order to make four smaller rooms out of one room.

By 3:45 P.M., Sunnydale police department had set up roadblocks to keep people away.

At 3:55 P.M., all the clocks in the hospital were reset to 2:55 P.M. Five minutes later, the wizards shifted the hospital to the Letutus Hell dimension. The lights throughout the building went out.

When the stairwell went black, Sheila uttered out in a panic, "Oh shit!" She then felt another painful contraction that made her sit down on the steps. "Oh shit!!" The back-up generator kicked on and when Sheila went to stand up, her water broke. "Oh my god!"

On the floor below, two orderlies, Anthony and James entered the stairwell, as Anthony was saying, "Yeah, well, I'm not chancing the elevators until we're back were we belong and…" Anthony stopped talking when he and James saw dripping amniotic fluid.

James indicated to the dripping amniotic fluid while uttering, "Where's this water…"

"Someone there?" Sheila's voice echoed throughout the stairwell. "I need a doctor." Sheila heard two sets of footsteps racing up the steps.

When the two made it to Sheila, Anthony uttered, "Ooh, you're pregnant!"

"What gave it away?" Sheila sarcastically asked. "My big tummy? Or my water breaking all over the steps."

Anthony nervously laughed before telling James, "You should go inform Dr. Coolidge of our situation."

"On it," James said before continuing up the steps.

"Find out what we are to do… with her," Anthony said before James was able to get too far.

"Alright," James said.

"My name is Sheila Rosenberg," she said calmly.

"Yeah, well…" Anthony got out before sighing. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Rosenberg."

In the maternity ward, Dr. Coolidge was coordinating the activity of seven doctors, twelve nurses, ten orderlies and the hundred and thirty young couples when James entered the ward.

Once James found Dr. Coolidge within the mix he uttered, "Dr. Coolidge, we have a major problem."

Nurse Kurtz was standing nearby and heard Dr. Coolidge asking, "What's the problem?"

"There's a pregnant woman who was walking the stairwell, and… and her water broke," James said. "Anthony is with her now and is assisting her here."

"Mrs. Rosenberg was the only pregnant woman who came through here today; the others were assigned midwifes," Nurse Kurtz said as she stepped up to join the conversation.

"This is not good at all," Dr. Coolidge began. "The female Setula demons are born sterile and for them to know that there's a pregnant woman in this hospital during this tribute will be an insult to them. Our tribute won't be enough if they learn that Mrs. Rosenberg is in this hospital."

"Doctor, what are we going to do with, Mrs. Rosenberg?" Nurse Kurtz quickly asked. "She can't be here when the Setulas get here."

Dr. Coolidge turned towards James and said, "Go stop Anthony in bringing Mrs. Rosenberg up here."

"Where should they go," James asked.

Dr. Coolidge thought for a moment before saying, "To the morgue. In fact grabbed three more orderlies and hide the dead bodies from Mrs. Rosenberg along with anything that makes that look like a morgue. Mrs. Rosenberg must think that she's in a delivery room."

"I'm on it," James said.

Dr. Coolidge looked over his ward for a moment and when he saw Sarah, he went over to her.

When Sarah saw Dr. Coolidge stepping up with a slight concern expression across his face she asked, "Isn't everything going as planned?"

"There's a pregnant woman in the hospital and her water broke," Dr. Coolidge began. "She's on her way to the morgue and I need you to get down there; deliver her baby and above all, keep her out of sight from the Setulas."

"Yes, Doctor," Sarah said. "Doctor, who's the woman?"

"Nurse Kurtz believes that she might be Mrs. Rosenberg," Dr. Coolidge said.

Sarah nodded before saying, "I examined and released her earlier."

"Okay, well, apparently she didn't leave," Dr. Coolidge said. "So get down there and deliver her baby."

"Yes, Dr. Coolidge," Sarah said before walking away.

Sara went and grabbed a baby bed and a few other supplies that she needed to deliver a baby before heading down towards the morgue.

Anthony and Sheila were walking towards the maternity ward, when James and three other orderlies stepped into the hallway. James motioned for Anthony to stop and when everyone came together in the hall, James whispered to Anthony, "We have to turn the morgue into a make-shift delivery room." Anthony gave him a curious look. "Give us a few minutes and then bring her there."

Anthony continued to give James a curious look before whispering back, "Weird place to be delivering a baby, but alright."

"Let's go," James told the other orderlies before hurrying away. The three orderlies quickly followed.

Once James and his group got to morgue they immediately went to work and hid all remnants of the room being a morgue. They were just finishing up when Sarah, Anthony and Sheila were walking in. Sarah was pushing a baby bed with supplies thrown into it and a hospital gown for Sheila to put on.

While Sarah was getting Sheila back into the gown one of the orderlies went out into the hall to stand guard.

After Sheila took off her remaining clothes, Sarah and Anthony helped her into a bed.


	2. Chapter 2

At the entrance, two of the vampire security guards were letting in twenty-five male Setula demons. However, as the Setula demons were entering, so did six Crimson phantoms.

Crimson phantoms looked like colorful smoke of shifting colors between all of the color shades of blue and pink. The shapes that they took while floating barely above eye lever, were faces at the front and a prickly burr everywhere else.

The lead Setula demon looked at the security guards while angrily hissing in his language, "You dare to bring pregnant women here." The words automatically translated as an echo within a split second of the original foreign word.

"There's no pregnant woman here," the security guard insisted.

"Crimson phantoms are drawn to a mother giving birth," the lead Setula again hissed. "They possess newborns if they could." The lead Setula quickly pointed in the direction of the morgue. "They're going that way."

The morgue was on the first floor, not far from the waiting area closest to the entrance, and when the orderly standing guard in front of the morgue saw the Crimson phantoms heading towards him along with the lead Setula demon following not far behind, he reentered the room while uttering, "We have a problem!"

Before anyone could respond, the Crimson phantoms came through the wall, and when Sheila saw them, she let out and held a loud scream.

"What the hell are those," Anthony uttered.

The Crimson phantoms immediately began circling like vultures around Sheila and when Sarah realized that Sheila was their focus, she rattled off a force field spell to keep them back. Sheila continued to scream throughout the event.

"What are they after?" James quickly asked just as the Crimson phantoms went through the force field as if it wasn't even there. They then dived and entered Sheila stomach.

"They're after the baby," Sarah quickly realized.

"We have more demons… solid demons coming our way still," the orderly who entered moments before said.

Sarah quickly searched her thoughts on what to do and when an idea came to her she rattled off a spell that would mystically kill Sheila and her unborn baby. Once Sheila and her unborn baby were dead the Crimson phantom let out a loud ear-piercing shriek. They then came out of Sheila's stomach while being solid black and then evaporated away.

"What the hell did you do?!" Anthony demanded to know.

"I think I killed those things," Sarah said in an uncertain tone.

"You killed this woman too," James said as he checked Sheila's pulse.

"I did," Sarah confessed. "Listen up! I'm a witch. I mystically killed this woman and her unborn baby so I can save their lives."

"How's that?" Anthony questioned as the two vampire security guards and five of the Setula demons stepped into the room.

The lead Setula demon gestured towards Sheila while hissing, "I told you that there was a pregnant woman here."

"'Was' is the operative word," Sarah told the demons as she stepped up to them. "This woman was brain dead and in a coma for several weeks. The baby was still alive though and so we kept the mother's body alive by machines until it was time for the baby to be born. We were hoping that you would understand and wouldn't penalize us over this; however, there's now nothing to understand. Your friends killed the baby."

"Those were Crimson phantoms and I assure you that they're no friends of ours," the lead Setula demon told Sarah. "They take possession of newborns if the ritual to keep them away isn't performed, and rumor has it that they feed on the newborns' spirits. I never heard of a Crimson phantom killing a newborn outright though. Normally at least one Crimson phantom takes over the body."

"The baby was feeble, so perhaps that was why the baby had died when the phantoms attempted to possess the child," Sarah suggested.

"I never heard such of an incident, but since the baby is dead and the Crimson phantoms had moved on, I'll accept that theory," the lead Setula said. He then turned towards the security officers. "It's time for us to move on."

"This way," one of the security officers said.

Once the Setula demons and the vampires had left along with the door being closed behind them, Sarah let out a sigh of relief.

Anthony stepped up to Sarah before asking, "Dr. McBride, how is killing the mother and her unborn child saving their lives."

"I made sure that their deaths were mystical and by the laws of magic, I'll be able to mystically resurrect them," Sarah said. "In fact, the spell book to that resurrecting spell is in my locker and…"

"You resurrect people often?" James interrupted with.

"No; this will be my first time," Sarah said.

"Then how do you know you can do it?" Anthony asked.

"Being a doctor taught be several things and one of those things is that self confident is crucial to have," Sarah said. "I'll resurrect Mrs. Rosenberg and her unborn child because I'm confident of my ability. Now the supplies I need for the spell are also in the hospital, so I'll need you guys to keep Mrs. Rosenberg's body safe while I go collect what I need."

"Yes, Doctor," the group said except for James.

"Doctor, do you need help collecting the supplies?" James asked.

Sarah thought for a moment before nodding and listing the items that she needed.

The twenty-five Setula demons were led to the clinic and then split up into the dividing room with what they needed to donate semen.

In the maternity ward, the men were also donating semen and once the medical staff had the demon's semen the human's semen was disposed of and replaced by the demon's semen.

Collecting the demons' semen took thirty minutes and once Sarah knew that the demons were heading out the door, thirty-five minutes after they had entered, she lit the candles.

"Osiris, keeper of the gate, master of all fate, hear me," Sarah began before anointing herself with the blood mixture that she mixed up from the blood she got from the blood bank. Sarah fluently spoke several languages; including Latin and Rumanian, and when she continued her incantation, she spoke in Latin. When Sarah paused her chant, the flames on the candles erupted like sparklers.

Sarah continued her incantation and she only paused a second when an invisible force slashed her arms, torso and her left cheek.

When James, Anthony and the other orderlies made motions to intervene, Sarah ordered in a deep eerie voice, "Stay back!" When the five stopped in their tracks Sarah continued her Latin chant. After a few more lines were recited and repeated three times, Sarah's anger flared, her eyes turned black and veins came across her face before hissing in English, "Osiris, why are you denying me! I demand you to come forth! I demand an explanation!"

Storm clouds had immediately formed within the room before an angry demon appeared and shot back, "Witch! You dare to summon me!"

"I dare!" Sarah angrily hissed. "Why are you refusing me?!"

The demon hissed, "Witch, you're attempting to raise two souls…"

"Yes!" Sarah angrily confirmed. "I gave the proper offering so why are you refusing me?!"

"The soul of the unborn child has been devoured," the demon hissed. "To bring the unborn child back to life along with her mother will require a sacrifice of someone… a human."

"So if someone dies, you can bring the mother and her unborn child back to life?" Sarah quickly questioned.

"That someone must be presented before me for sacrifice," the demon said while gazing over the five orderlies who were standing behind Sarah. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

"I do, but don't look pass me," Sarah quickly said. "I'm the sacrifice."

"You would sacrifice yourself?" the demon quickly questioned in a skeptical tone before gesturing towards her. "You would end this life?"

"I mystically killed the mother and her unborn child in order to save their lives and if someone has to die in order to bring them back to life then I demand that I'm the one who will die," Sarah insisted. "My soul will most likely remain here in this hell dimension and be tortured for eternity. For what I had done I deserve it. So do it! Kill me so these two can live!" The demon laughed. Sarah gave the demon a cold stare before angrily uttering, "I'm glad that I amuse you!"

"The sacrifice that you make isn't only to die; it's also to be reborn," the demon uttered.

"What?" Sarah questioned in an uncomprehending tone.

"Your soul will replace the unborn child's soul," the demon answered.

"Wait!" Sarah uttered "How is that a sacrifice?"

"Your memories will be wiped clean… along with your sins," the demon said.

"That's an ultimate do-over," Sarah pointed out. "For some that would be an opportunity of a life time."

"Yes, and I had to find out if you were worthy of that opportunity," the demon said. "And you are. You passed the test."

"Test?" Sarah questioned slightly above a whisper, which wasn't really meant for the demon's ears.

"You were the only one who could die so the unborn child could live," the demon explained. "If you had selfishly chosen another to be sacrifice in your place, then you wouldn't have been worthy and the mother and her unborn daughter would've remained dead." Sarah pondered the demon's words. "You chose yourself though… without hesitation. You chose yourself when you thought that the sacrifice meant dying and your soul being tortured for eternity. That was what made you worthy."

"Okay…" Sarah was only able to get out before the demon stretched out his hands and disintegrated her body with a bolt of energy.

The demon disappeared in a clash of thunder, and immediately following Sheila gasped for breath. She quickly looked around in horror before uttering, "What in hell happened! Where did those… floating smoke go?!"

"There was no floating smoke," James told her.

"I saw…" Sheila got out before feeling her worst contraction yet. She screamed out in pain while she was finishing her sentence, "…them.

"Go get a doctor!" James hissed to the closest person to him. "Any doctor!"

"On it," the orderly said as Anthony saw Sheila bearing down and pushing.

As the orderly hurried away, Anthony told Sheila. "Resist the urge to push, until we can get a doctor."

As Sheila continued to uncontrollably push together with her contractions, she screamed out in pain, "She wants to be born! I can feel her moving out of me!"

"What are we going to do?!" James worriedly uttered. "We have no doctor and this baby's obviously coming."

"I was in the room as the nurses were watching the DVD on how to become midwives," Anthony said. "As long as the head comes out first, all we have to worry about is the shoulders passing through... I think."

"Don't think; be sure," James hissed as Sheila again cried out in pain. "Dr. McBride gave her live for this baby. We can't let her down."

"I can do this," Anthony said in a self reassuring manner before he went to check the progress of the baby. A timid expression came across his face when he saw the baby crowning. "Oh, yeah, this baby is definitely not waiting for another doctor. I can see the head. Okay. I can do this. I just have to make sure the shoulders pass through."

As the shoulders were ready to pass through, Anthony hesitantly and awkwardly made motions to assist the birth of the baby, but he was too scared to even touch her.

After a second of making baulking motions, Dr. Sheila Willoughby stepped in while demanding to know, "How far apart are her contractions." The orderly who went for help had also reentered behind the doctor.

"To hell with that!" Anthony uttered as Sheila was uncontrollably pushing and grunting in pain. "If this baby opens her eyes, I could to tell you her eye color."

"They're blue," Dr. Willoughby said as she stepped up. "Move aside!"

"How do you know," Anthony asked while moving.

"Most newborns' eyes are blue," Dr. Willoughby said as she was making sure that the baby was passing through correctly. "It's only after the baby is born will the baby's eye color changes to the color that they'll be." She then turned her focused to Sheila. "Ma'am, I want you to take a series of deep breaths and only when I tell you to, are you to push hard." Sheila nodded before doing what she was instructed. After a few seconds, Dr. Willoughby uttered, "Okay, push!"

"Ahh!" Sheila cried out long and loud just as her baby was being born. Seconds later and without prompting, the baby cried out at the top of her lungs. When Sheila heard the cry, she uttered out delightfully. "I hear her! I hear by baby girl!"

"Congratulations," Dr. Willoughby said as she was snipping the cord. She then glanced at the wall clock. "As of 3:49 P.M, August 15, 1980 you are the mother of a beautiful baby girl."

"Can I hold her?" Sheila asked.

"First, I'll need to examined her to make sure that she's as healthy as she is beautiful… and she needs to be cleaned up as well," Dr. Willoughby said as she laid the baby on the baby bed. Two nurses were entering as Dr. Willoughby was continuing to say, "After that you can hold her."

"The baby's been delivered?" the first nurse asked in a surprised tone.

"We were supposed to have help," the second nurse said.

As Dr. Willoughby was examining the newborn, she said, "There're still tasks for you to do." There was then a short pause. "In fact, one of you can begin with washing off this beautiful and healthy baby girl so she can see her mommy."

"Yes, doctor," the second nurse said as she stepped up to the crib.

Sheila was soaked in sweat, and the first nurse went to help clean her off.

Dr. Willoughby stepped up to Sheila before asking, "Have you decided on a name yet?"

Even though Sheila was exhausted she manage to get out, "I had Danielle… picked out. But now… I would like to name her after you. What is your first name?"

Dr. Willoughby smiled before answering, "It's Sheila."

Sheila smirked and after reading her nametag she asked, "What's your middle name?"

"I was never given one," Dr. Willoughby answered. "Sheila's a fine name though."

"I know, it's my name too, Dr. Willo…" Sheila was only able to get out before feeling a momentary stomach discomfort.

Dr. Willoughby noticed her discomfort and said, "We still have to remove the afterbirth. You don't have to settle on the name this very moment."

Before Dr. Willoughby was able to step around to begin removing Sheila's afterbirth, Sheila said while staring at her nametag, "'Wil-lo-be'." Dr. Willoughby gave her a curious look. "Wil-lo…Willow. Willow Rosenberg. Willow Danielle Rosenberg."

Dr. Willoughby grinned before saying, "Do we have a name?"

"We do," Sheila said as she managed a pleasant grin. "My daughter's name is Willow Danielle Rosenberg."

"Would you like to see Willow, Mrs. Rosenberg?" the nurse asked while stepping up.

"I do," Sheila said.

"Just for a moment," Dr. Willoughby said. "We aren't through with you yet."

Sheila nodded as the nurse was handing her, her daughter. Once Willow was in her arms she said, "Hey there, beautiful girl…"

"Dr. Willoughby," Anthony called out to grab her attention.

"Yes," Dr. Willoughby uttered while swinging around to look.

Anthony gestured towards the hall before saying, "We should get back to work."

"Wait in the hall," Dr. Willoughby ordered. "You five are going to tell me what went down here."

"Yes, Ma'am," the five replied before walking away.

As the five were walking away, Sheila asked, "What happened to Dr. McBride?"

"I don't know," Dr. Willoughby answered as the five were leaving. "But I'm definitely going to find out."

As Sheila was cuddling Willow, she said, "Although my mind was on me giving birth, I do believe that one of those guys had said that she gave her life for my baby… for Willow."

"Well, if in fact that is what was said, I can't imagine why," Dr. Willoughby said. "You should give Willow back to the nurse, so we can continue. You'll be with your daughter soon enough." Sheila nodded before handing her daughter to the nurse.

A short time later, while Sheila was expelling the after birth, the hospital shifted back into the Earth dimension. The hospital clocks displayed 4:03 P.M, and were fast by only one minute. So as far as the world's concerned the hospital was only gone for two minutes.

Outside, the Sunnydale Electric Company and the Sunnydale Phone Company immediately went to work to reattach the lines to the hospital. The Sunnydale Gas Company and the Sunnydale Sewer & Water Company immediately went to work to reattach the necessary underground pipes as well.

At 4:10 P.M, Sheila was taken to a recovery room and since the nursery was closed, a makeshift nursery was thrown together in a room closest to the nurse's station.

At 4:20 P.M, in Dr. Coolidge's office, Anthony and the other four explained to him and Dr. Willoughby what had happened in great detail.

Once they were done, Dr. Coolidge said, "Okay, well, what happened to Dr. McBride doesn't leave this office. In fact, as far as I'm concern she never worked here and what happened didn't happen."

"Yes, doctor," everyone said.

At 7:30 P.M, the electrical lines and phone lines were reattached, but the pipes for the other utilities were still hours away from being fully reattached.

Richard Wilkins lived in a large home twenty miles outside Sunnydale, and at 7:40 P.M, Dr. Coolidge had been escorted to Richard's study by the butler and was now shaking Richard's hand.

Once the handshake was over, Richard gestured towards the three guest seats while saying, "Sit-sit."

"Thank you," Dr. Coolidge said as he sat in the middle guest seat.

Richard took his seat behind his desk, pulled out a towelette and as he wiped his hands he asked, "So did things go as smoothly as we were hoping."

In a tone that he wasn't telling the whole story, Dr. Coolidge said, "I'm glad to report that everything went as well as we had hoped for."

Richard caught the tone, and when he went to stand up again he said, "I want scotch and soda; do you want scotch and soda?"

"No thank you, Mr. Wilkins," Dr. Coolidge answered.

As Richard moved to where he kept his drinks, he asked, "So there were no hitches, bumps in the road or glitches of any kind?"

Richard noticed a hesitation before Dr. Coolidge's replied, "There was one bump in the road and it was dealt with. So I didn't feel the need to bring it up."

As Richard mixed his drink, he said, "I'll be the judge on what is relevant."

"Yes, Sir," Dr. Coolidge began. "There was a pregnant woman at the hospital during the dimensional shift into the hell dimension. She came into the hospital long before the dimensional shift occurred with false labor pains and she didn't leave the hospital when the staff had sent her home. In fact, she was exercising on our stairs and then her water broke around the time of the dimensional shift."

"So how was that bump handled?" Richard said.

Dr. Coolidge took a breath before answering, "Dr. McBride… oh, I didn't know this about Dr. McBride when we hired her, but Dr. McBride was a witch… a powerful one at that and so to hide the fact that there was a pregnant woman in labor at the hospital, Dr. McBride mystically killed the mother and her unborn baby…"

"Now I can't help but take note that you used the word 'was' when referring to Dr. McBride as being a witch," Richard pointed out as he walked back to his seat with his drink. "She's no longer a witch?"

"Actually, Sir, she's no longer of the living," Dr. Coolidge answered as Richard took his seat. "To bring the mother and daughter back to life, she had to forfeit her own."

"Well, now that's depressing," Richard said. "I liked her. She was smart and fearless, and if I've known that she was a witch, I could've shown her a way better life… a life that was worth more than giving it up for strangers. I bet the mother and her child aren't even grateful to her noble sacrifice."

Richard took a drink as Dr. Coolidge said, "I don't believe that the mother is even aware of Dr. McBride's sacrifice."

After swallowing the drink he took, Richard said in a tone as if his point was confirmed, "There you go." Dr. Coolidge gave him a curious look. "Anyway, in spite of this pregnant woman being where she shouldn't have been, was the first stage of the tribute fulfilled?"

"It was, Sir," Dr. Coolidge said.

"Excellent, then I won't dwell on the fact that she was there," Richard said. Dr. Coolidge nodded with a grin. "So all in all how many women did you inseminate?"

"A hundred and thirty," Dr. Coolidge answered. "I suspect that a few of the women won't get pregnant even after the insemination and a few more will miscarry at some point during their pregnancy. So I'm hoping that at lease a hundred out of the hundred and thirty will carry to full term."

"Yes, it's always good to prepare for rain while hoping for clear skies and sunshine," Richard said.

"Yes," Dr. Coolidge agreed before Richard saw a question coming across Dr. Coolidge's face. Richard just gave him a curious stare. "The other day you were throwing out numbers and I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't keep up with the conversation as well as I should've. The gestation period of these babies will be how long again?"

"Since the mothers are human, they should go into labor in six months… the ones who got pregnant of course," Richard began. Dr. Coolidge just nodded. "Before the female Setula demons became sterile, their gestation was five months."

Dr. Coolidge again nodded before asking, "If… let's say, one hundred and twenty of the women carry the offsprings to full term, would that cause problems with your tribute?"

"Quite the opposite," Richard quickly answered. "The tribute minimum is a hundred offsprings, but if I can give them more offsprings my reward will be even greater. In fact, female Setula demons were multiparous demons before becoming sterile, and I'm actually hoping that the human mothers will also get pregnant with more than one offsprings. Anyway, unless you have more to report, you're free to return to the hospital."

"There's nothing more to report," Dr. Coolidge sincerely said before he and Richard stood up. They both then left the study.

Because of the unique way that Willow was born, Dr. Coolidge insisted for Sheila and her daughter to remain in the hospital for three extra days at an extremely reduce cost. Ira visited every day.

On the morning that Sheila and Willow were to be released from the hospital, Ira lightly decorated the outside of the house, which advertised to the neighborhood that his wife and his newborn daughter were coming home that day.

Jessica saw the decorations and while holding Alexander she waited on the porch for Sheila and Ira to get home with Willow.

Once they did get home, Ira was the one to carry Willow's baby carrier with Willow in it from the car to the house. Sheila and Ira stared curiously at Jessica and when everyone was only a few feet from each other, Ira asked Jessica, "May I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Jessica," she said.

"Jessica?" Sheila uttered while quickly remembering who she dialed days before. "You're the woman I dialed by mistake the day I gave birth."

"I am," Jessica said before facing the advertisement that Ira had put up. "I saw the display here that you were coming home today, and…"

"How did you know where I lived?" Sheila interrupted with.

"Oh, uh, I don't live far from here, and the ambulance that picked you up had drove passed my house," Jessica began as she gently and playfully bounced her son in her arms. "I then watched you, a pregnant woman at the time, getting into the ambulance." She then glanced at her son. "Anyway, this is Alexander."

"So, Jessica, would you and Alexander like to come in?" Ira asked.

"We can… for a short time anyway," Jessica answered.

"I'm Ira, by the way," he said as he moved closer to the door. "And the little one sleeping in the carrier is Willow."

"Nice to meet all of you," Jessica said as she moved aside to allow Ira to unlock the front door.

"Likewise," Sheila and Ira said as Ira was opening the door. Once the door was opened, everyone entered.

As the days passed, Sheila and Jessica became each others unofficial 'New-Mothers' support group'. When one went shopping for groceries, clothes or for general needed items the other was right there to lend a hand. They even went on outings to the park together with their kids. On Halloween morning, their small group of four grew to a group of six when Catherine Madison and her three-week old daughter Amy met them at the park.

Catherine and her husband Roger were living in Los Angeles when Amy was born on October 10.

Catherine only returned to Sunnydale with Roger and Amy in order to sell the house that Sarah had left her in her will; however, once Catherine and Roger learned how nice and spacious the house was and how cheap it was to keep up in the small town of Sunnydale they decided to move in.

The hundred and ten women who actually became pregnant with the demons' semen were now in their third month, but were looking as if they were in their fifth month. Eighty of the women were found to be carrying, two, three or four offsprings.

On January 27, one of the hundred and ten women went into labor first. Once she got to the hospital she kept repeating over and over, "It's too soon."

Dr. Coolidge was at home relaxing and was immediately called. Over the phone, he ordered a strong sedative for the woman and once she came to hours later, Dr. Coolidge told her, "I'm sorry. Your twins were too premature to survive."

Her twins did survive though and were taken to the safe-house that Richard had set up.

The next woman who went into labor was on February 2, and after the woman gave birth to her triplets, Dr. Coolidge told her the same lie as he told the first woman. The babies were then taken to the safe-house with the twins.

After February 4, the women pregnant with demon babies were going into labor two to eight a day, every day. Dr. Coolidge was moving from one delivery room to another for two weeks. Within those two weeks all, but twelve women had given birth and those twelve gave birth during the following seven days.

Richard Wilkins was very please to have two hundred and thirties demon offsprings and once the offsprings were altogether, Richard had the babies shifted to the Letutus Hell dimension

As the time passed, Willow began walking and talking early for her age; however, a lot of her words came out slightly mispronounced or shortened; in fact she called Alexander, 'Xander' and as time went on 'Xander' became his nickname.

As the years slowly passed and when Catherine was around Willow, Catherine saw a lot of her sister's personality in Willow. The personality that caught Catherine's eye before all others was how quickly Willow was able to learn.

Catherine didn't believe in reincarnation, other than the spell that she discovered that would cause two people to swap bodies. Also Willow was shy and had lacked self confidence. Catherine had never known of a time when her sister was shy or had lacked self confidence, so any thoughts she had that Willow was her sister reincarnated were quickly dismissed. In fact, Catherine chalked up the similarities between Sarah's and Willow's personalities as one of those earthly anomalies.

During the summer months of the elementary school years, Jessica would invite Willow and Amy to stay the night, and Sheila would in turn invite Xander and Amy to stay the night.

Catherine tried not to, but she found that she had transferred her resentment of her sister onto Willow and as a result, Catherine gracefully decline the offers to let Amy spend the night at Jessica's or Sheila's house. Nor did she offer to allow Willow or Xander to spend the night at her house.

Even as a small child Willow had felt a kind of love for Xander that she felt for no other. The two were even married a couple of times in a childhood make-believe wedding, and in junior high Willow found herself wanting for that make-believe life to become a reality. However, her heart was broken when Xander's love-interest was for Cordelia Chase and not her. In fact, Willow found that most of the boys' love-interests to be Cordelia Chase and she was secretly glad when Cordelia shot down Xander's attempts to flirt with her.

All of Xander's love interests had shot him down. The only one who wouldn't shoot him down was her and so she continued to wait for him to see her in the same way as she saw him. Then Buffy Summers entered the picture midway through her junior high school year and again Willow had to bite her lip and bear the fact that Xander's freshly love interest was towards Buffy and not her.

(We all know the rest from here… except for when Willow was restoring Angel's soul. When that eerie force shot through her and she spoke fluently in Rumanian, she was unknowingly tapping into a part of Sara McBride that still existed subconsciously in her.)

**The End. **


End file.
